A little over a year ago, before I was hired at AP, I wrote about the things I wanted my new Honeycomb tablet to be able to do in the next version of Android. Multitasking on tablets was (and still is) non-existent, and I wanted my tablet to be less of a big phone, and more of a small computer. I wanted split screen, and floating apps, and really, I wanted to just make use of this nice, big screen I had. One task at a time isn't good enough. The big difference between a tablet and a phone should be the ability to multitask.

As it turns out, Samsung gets it. The Galaxy Note 10.1 is actually trying to make tablets useful, productive tools. They've added split screen and floating apps. I've actually got my email and a web browser open side by side right now, and it's like a dream come true.

If that isn't enough for you, this thing also has pen input. A pressure-sensitive pen stows away in the bottom-left corner of the tablet. You can take notes, and select an area of the screen to capture and draw on it.

On paper, it all sounds very good. Reality, however, is an entirely different story. It's not enough to just have a good idea, you have to actually make it real, you need to build it.

I'm sad to report that Samsung failed at execution on all fronts. Samsung has been pushing the skinning envelope further and further, and, with this revision of TouchWiz, they've slammed into a brick wall. Couple this failure with astonishingly bad hardware and a $500 price tag, and you've got yourself a real disappointment. Samsung promised us the moon, and then cut corners everywhere possible, and it's hard to walk away not feeling a little insulted.

Specifications

1.4GHz Quad-Core Exynos 4412 Processor

Mali-400MP GPU

2 GB RAM

16/32/64GB ROM (Partitioned as Unified Storage!) with microSDHC slot

10.1 inch, 1280x800 LCD

7000mAh Non-Removable Battery

5MP Rear Camera, 1.9MP Front Camera

WiFi A/B/G/N (2.4 & 5 GHz)

Bluetooth 4.0+

Dimensions: 262 x 180 x 8.9 mm

Weight: 600g (3G), 597g (WiFi)

Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) with TouchWiz

Pressure Sensitive Pen and Wacom Digitizer

Other Extras: An IR Blaster (a TV Remote), USB 2.0 Host, MHL,

The Good

Loud, front-facing stereo speakers. These should be standard equipment on all phones and tablets.

A big, long lasting battery.

The Bad

The build quality. Terrible even by Samsung's low standards. The back is actually squishy, and you can feel it deform while holding it. It's noisy too, the plastic creaks, groans, and grinds when you pick it up. Regular, strong plastic would still be unacceptable when everyone else uses aluminum, but this... this is insulting for a $500 tablet.

An ugly two-tone "please don't ever confuse this with an iPad" design. It's not designed to look good, it's only designed to not look like an iPad.

A 1280x800 resolution display on a flagship device is not ok. Asus does 1920x1200, and Samsung makes a 9.7 inch, 2048x1536 display for Apple. They seriously cheaped out here.

No NFC on a device that is, by definition, a secondary device. Have a Galaxy S III and a Note 10.1? Well, guess what? You can't tap to share because Samsung cheaped out. 2 months ago, NFC was all the rage at Samsung HQ. Now, all of a sudden, it's not important enough to include in your flagship tablet. What happened?

The new multitasking features, floating apps and split screen, just aren't any good. Compatibility is limited to a handful of not-very-useful TouchWiz apps, and split screen has terrible lag when switching between the two open apps.

Hardware

Design

More design from Samsung's Legal Department, just like the GSIII. Everything about this is made to scream "I am not an iPad." Apple claims "substantial black borders on all sides being roughly equal in width," so this thing has uneven, "Pearl Grey" borders. Apple suggested Samsung could make a non-infringing device with a "front surface that isn't entirely flat" and "thick frames rather than a thin rim around the front surface," so Samsung fitted the Note 10.1 with hideous, thick, plastic framing.

Samsung didn't design this to look good, they designed it only to not look like something else, and it shows.

Anyway, lets take a closer look:

Nothing to report along the sides. On the bottom there's a centered, Apple-style charger and on the right you'll see the seam for the S Pen.

Here's all the stuff we've been looking for. Left to right, we've got the headphone jack, IR blaster, MicroSD slot, volume rocker, and power button. Yes, an IR blaster. This thing is also a TV remote.

The Micro SD slot is "protected" with a little flap. I don't really like port covers, but this little guy is firmly attached to the tablet. I tried to break it off, and it stood up to my abuse. You can't break this.

I really love the speakers. Loud, stereo, front-facing speakers. It's such a common sense thing, I really don't understand what's taken so long. Tablets are supposed to be media consumption devices, which means, after the screen, the speakers are the most important component. This is the first tablet I've played with where headphones or "cupping" wasn't mandatory.

Speakers that face your ears need to be a standard feature on all phone and tablets. I feel stupid typing that, yet this is the first device I've seen with them. It just goes to show how low the bar is for all Android OEMs.

There's not much going on in the back. You've got a 5MP camera and flash, a Samsung logo, and the usual fine print. Other than that, there's just a massive ocean of plastic. And, oh boy, about that plastic:

Materials & Build Quality

This is a Samsung device, so you just know things in this department are going to be bad, but I never expected they would be this bad. Sure, there's the usual, tame stuff. You get, for instance, the same nasty looking corner construction I complained about in my Galaxy S III review. But this time, Samsung went all out and invented a new, even more horrible form of plastic.

The Note 10.1 is wrapped in the trashiest, most awful, cheapest-feeling plastic I've ever experienced. Sure, the finish is Samsung's usual glossy-plastic junk, but this plastic isn't even rigid. It's squishy.

Yeah, you heard me, squishy plastic. You can easily flex it with a light touch, and you can feel the whole back deform in your hands when using it. It's sort of like holding a marshmallow. Don't believe me? Watch this:

That's a close-up of the back of the Note 10.1. I'm just lightly pressing on the back, right on top of the Samsung logo, and the back flexes up and down like a trampoline. It doesn't even feel like part of the device. The back flexes so much it feels closer to a free-floating skin than a rigid structural component, like how a 3rd party case has a little bit of give to it. The scary thing is that it only stops flexing when it touches the internal components. I somehow doubt the battery and motherboard were meant to be load-bearing.

To give you an idea of just how ill-fitting the back is, let's take a closer look at that picture I showed you earlier. See the wavy, white reflection? That's the top of my computer monitor. A flat surface would give an undistorted reflection, meaning the top of the monitor would be a straight line. The Note 10.1 is so wavy and uneven that this reflection is more like a funhouse mirror.

Things don't really fit together well, either. Here's the corner of the grey plastic that houses the camera. It's flush in some areas, and it sticks out in others, probably due to the looseness of the squishy plastic.

The back is also made of the least durable material known to man. This is what it looks like after 2 days of very light use. The uneven, skin-like back creates pressure points, so the flimsy plastic wears down even faster in some spots. I've been as gentle as humanly possible with the Note 10.1, because I still needed to take pictures of it, but apparently just sitting on a desk is enough to scratch it. Thank god for Photoshop.

For reference, here's the aluminum back of my Motorola Xoom, which I've been abusing for a year and a half.

The Note 10.1 doesn't just feel like crap, and age like crap, it sounds like crap too. The plastic creaks and crackles when you apply any kind of stress to it - for instance, when picking it up with one hand. Listen to the noise it makes from a gentle squeeze:

Expect to hear one of those creaks every time you pick it up.

Asus, Apple, and Motorola are building tablets out of aluminum, and Samsung is doing... this. This is the build quality I would expect in a $100 Chinese-knockoff "Android Tablet" from the bottom shelf of a Kmart, not a $500 tablet from the world's largest Android OEM. Samsung should be ashamed.

S Pen

The S Pen feels pretty cheap too. It's very light - it's basically a hollow plastic tube. Have you ever played with those hollow, plastic dummy phones in a store? This feels exactly like that. Except it's a real product that you are expected to pay for. The lightness is really off-putting, and Samsung knows it - they will sell you a heavier pen, but it doesn't stow away in the tablet.

The pen has a button, but it doesn't really do anything. It'll turn your pen into an eyedropper in Photoshop, and you can do one or two gestures with it in the OS, like take a screenshot or trigger the back or menu buttons, and that's it. It needs to be customizable. Having it switch to the eraser for drawing would be awesome.

And here's the pen slot. It holds the pen securely, and even has a sensor so it knows when you take the pen out. It'll either turn the screen on, or bring up a shortcut menu.

The problem with this shortcut menu is that it's completely un-customizable. I hope you like Crayon physics, because that's permanent.

As far as the pen actually working? It's a mixed bag. Pressure sensitivity works. Samsung will tell you it has 1000 levels of sensitivity, but it seems more like 5.

Palm rejection is possible, but it's up to the individual apps to include it. So far, only the large version of S Note works. There's no palm rejection in Photoshop or the floating version of S Note.

The pen is tracked well, and the Note can even tell when you are hovering the pen over the screen, although they don't really use that for anything. Tracking is just as laggy as a normal touchscreen, which is much more noticeable when you're using a pen.

Screen

Well, it's got one. That's about the most positive thing I can say about the screen. It's perfectly serviceable - not anything special, not bad either.

The problem is, it is no where near competitive for a "flagship" tablet. It's a 1280x800 LCD. Great. Except that you can get a 1920x1200 display from Asus in the TF700 or a 2048x1536 display from Apple. A tablet is just a screen, so skimping on it is an instant deal breaker.

So what happened here, Samsung? I thought you guys were supposed to have great display technology. You guys manufacture the iPad display, so don't tell me you can't do it. Are you just skimping out on components to boost your profit margin?

Performance

Hardware wise, the Note 10.1 is really a big international Galaxy S III. You get a 1.4 GHz Exynos quad core, 2GB of RAM, and a Mali-400MP GPU. I usually write something like "performance isn't a concern anymore, everything runs very smoothly," but that isn't the case here. You can run normal applications just fine, Touchwiz, however, is a totally different story.

A processors worst nightmare.

If you've read some of the early reviews floating around out there, you've probably heard mixed things about the performance. Out of the box, this thing runs like crap. I mean it. I'm talking slower than a Xoom. The home screens, in particular, laboriously move along at around 15 FPS. The reason is the default widget setup. These 4 squares - Clock, Media Hub, Game Hub, and Music Hub - kill performance. So if you see anyone calling this thing slow, that's why. Remove them and everything speeds up to the normal, expected smoothness. It's not as buttery smooth as Jelly Bean, but it isn't slow, either.

The other reason performance is a concern now is because Touchwiz is pushing the multitasking envelope further than anyone has before. You can float Touchwiz apps around in little windows, or run them in split screen.

Here I'm watching a video in the lower right, monitoring my ram, taking notes, and I've got the browser and a spreadsheet open in the background. Things aren't super smooth, but everything is certainly useable. Switching between the left and right apps in split screen mode, because of the way it is coded, is really slow, but I'll explain that in the software section. This is a ridiculous number of things to have open at once, and, other than split screen, it handles it all rather admirably. It can even run the new, super-detailed Google Earth areas pretty smoothly, and those will crush a slower device like a Galaxy Nexus.

The processor is seriously fast, which makes the initial widget slowness all the more... impressive? Samsung is just really bad at making widgets, I guess.

Camera

I was going to do a thorough camera test, but then it occurred to me that people might see me, and I decided against it. I did manage to get one snap off before the shame and embarrassment kicked in.

It's your standard, crappy, 5MP sensor they've been putting in everything for the last 2 years. Which is fine, because you should never take a picture with this thing.

What's Missing

...How is there no NFC? You are obviously going to have this tablet and an Android phone, and all of the new devices have NFC, so why not include it? It would be so awesome to be able to tap to share a web page, app, or YouTube video between your devices.

Suppose you're a crazy person, and you're all-in on the Samsung ecosystem. You've got your Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and a Samsung Galaxy S III. You've got no way to send stuff from one to the other. 2 months ago, NFC (S Beam, in Samsung parlance) was all the rage at Samsung HQ. Now, all of a sudden, it's not important enough to include in your flagship tablet. S-Beam on the GSIII had lots of proprietary add-ons that needed a large device ecosystem to be useful, and 2 months later Samsung abandons it. This should definitely make people wary next time they start showing off something that only works on their phones.

TouchWiz

Alright! I get to do battle with TouchWiz again. That's right, just "TouchWiz." I am fairly certain the "Nature UX" branding from the Galaxy S III is gone - the official specs page just says "Samsung TouchWiz." At this point in the review though, I am so jaded with this thing, I probably wouldn't even humor Samsung by repeating whatever wacky branding they've come up with.

Anyway, meet this version of TouchWiz. The branding may be different, but, design-wise, it's basically a bigger version of the Galaxy S III software. Which is a roundabout way of saying "it's very ugly."

Immediately, you'll notice some strange new buttons in the system bar. The 4th button next to back, home, and recent apps is screenshot. I'm not kidding. Apparently no one at Samsung understands that the previous 3 buttons are for navigation and a 4th button that isn't navigation should probably not be there. I've hit it about a million times expecting it to be recent apps. The usual volume down + power also works, and there's an S Pen button shortcut. I guess Samsung really likes taking screenshots. Thankfully, you can turn off the screenshot button in settings. You can even change it to the app drawer, which is interesting.

The centered up arrow brings up the list of floating mini-apps, which I will get to in a later section. I don't get how they got the placement of this button right, but messed up the screenshot button location so badly. You need to separate navigation from the other stuff.

Open a legacy app in portrait mode and wow do things get scary. Just look at all those buttons. That's back, home, recent apps, screenshot, menu, and mini apps. This is why having competent UI designers is important, some spacing here would make all the difference.

They've managed to make the notification panel even uglier than the GSIII's version. This blue/green color scheme is never a good idea, but now the clock has its own background, a diagonal dark blue/light blue stripe. At least it's useful - you get Samsung's trademark power options.

Mini Apps

I'm not really sold on 10-inch tablets as a productive form of computing. Sure, they're great for watching movies and reading, but try to make something, or write something, and things start to fall apart. The biggest problem is that multitasking is non-existent. You get a much larger screen than a phone, but you can't actually do more with it. One of the ways Samsung has tried to fix this is with floating, mini-apps.

Like I said, tapping the center system bar arrow brings up the list of mini-apps, which appear as a row of thumbnails. This is part of the system bar, so you can do this from any screen you want. the mini apps float on top of all other UI elements and work just as you'd expect them to. Dragging on the title bar will move them around, and tapping the X will close them. The diagonal arrow on the left-hand side will switch to the full version of an app and, usually, transfer your work with it. It's surprisingly well thought out.

This floating functionality is no gimmick. The windows actually work well, and there's no limit to how many you can have open at once. The execution here is surprisingly solid. Some help in the window management department would be nice. The windows aren't resizable, and they don't snap to the screen edge or to each other, they're just totally free floating. Being able to minimize would have been nice too.

Of course, you can't just float anything. You can only float a select few TouchWiz apps. Let's take a look at what Samsung has whipped up. Let me know if you notice a general theme here.

Alarm

You can add an alarm, and turn an alarm off, and that's it. You can't delete an alarm (long press doesn't work) and there's no timer or countdown function. You get these 3 screens, and that's it. This isn't useful.

The app isn't even useful when an alarm goes off. You get this full-screen mess, while the mini-app obliviously floats over top of it.

Calculator

Hey! Now we're talking. This a very useful, four function calculator. There's a down arrow that will show you your calculation history since the app has been opened, and you can scroll through it. The top-left arrow will bounce you to the full calculator app, and bring all your work along, so you can use more advanced functions.

Email

That's "Email," not "Gmail." This is only for the stock email app. You know, the one for exchange accounts, and Hotmail.

I've only got one screenshot here, because this is all it does. You can't actually view a message, or reply, or do anything useful. You can only look at your inbox and star things. Tapping on an email will open it in the full-screen app, and that's about it.

This one is really hard to drag, because tapping on the title bar will switch between your accounts (Gmail, Hotmail, etc) and a combined view. The system is never really sure what to do when you interact with the title bar, so most of the time it just does nothing.

Music Player

Local music, if you've still got any, can be played through this thing. The big blue Samsung square is album art. You've got a volume slider, and the usual back, play, and next buttons. You can swipe over the album art to change songs, too. There's a playlist button that will change the interface to the picture on the right, where you can tap on a song to play it... and that's about it. You can't actually add, delete, or rearrange playlist entries.

The biggest problem with this app is that it is HUGE. Who needs an always-on-top music player to be this big, especially when all it's good for is a next button? Google accomplished all this with a notification. That's much less intrusive. The good news is that the player keeps going in the background, so you can close the floating app and the music will keep playing. Really though, everything this does can be done in the regular music notification, so there's no reason for it to exist.

S Note

This note app is actually pretty nice. It's one of the few things that is made for the S Pen, so you can draw on it with pressure sensitivity. The fountain pen button brings up a whole bunch of pen options - you can pick the line style, size, and color, and there are buttons for type, erase, redo, and undo. You can even scroll down and have more room, but, oddly, only after you select the text tool and close the keyboard.

The biggest problem with S Note is the way it deals with data. Closing the app deletes your note, and saving the note clears the notepad. Your note is saved somewhere, but you aren't looking at it anymore. You also can't reopen it from this app. There is also no "would you like to save" prompt, or any notification at all that your note is getting erased when you hit the close button. You are always one errant tap away from total note destruction.

The irresponsible nature with which this treats your data makes it only useful for unimportant, throwaway notes. If you're recording important data, you pretty much have to use something else.

S Planner

S Planner is Samsung-speak for "Calendar." You can pick a date and scroll through events, or add a new event. That's it. There are no other views. Tapping an event launches the real calendar.

Task Manager

Ugh. A task manager. The "Active applications" tab shows you thumbnails of your running applications, and the little "X" will kill the app in question. If you really hate your tablet, you can hit "End all" and blow up every running app.

The "RAM manager" tab shows how much RAM you're using, and it has an extremely scary button labeled "Clear memory." I tapped it and it crashed my home screen and reset my wallpaper. I'm not kidding. I'm going to stay way from that button.

World Clock

Yep. A world clock. You can type a city and see the time. Your places are saved and listed below the map.

Video

While it isn't listed in the floating app launcher, you can launch a floating video from the video player. Again though, it's for local media only. It's cool, but I want to do this with YouTube, or Netflix. I don't have any local media.

What's Missing

So, did you catch the theme here? This idea, and even the execution, is great, the problem is all these apps suck. Most of this is just useless. A clock app with no timer or stopwatch, an email app that can't look at emails, a redundant music app that takes up half the screen, a note app that doesn't respect data - this isn't well thought out.

I would love good floating apps, but none of these do anything I would want a floating app to do. How is there no instant messenger app? Google Talk/Voice would be awesome like this. Samsung didn't even make a client for its own crappy chat service, ChatOn. I'm also sure Twitterers would love to see a floating tweet stream, and floating video is nice, but everything is on YouTube. I want to float that video.

Also, guys, usually when you pop up stuff over other stuff, it's good to have some kind of background between them. When you open the floating app list over the top of the home screen, it can get kind of hard to tell what's going on.

And, uh, you also probably don't want the mini-apps to always be on top of everything. Having stuff on top of system popups like the "Complete action using" window just looks broken. This is probably a consequence of whatever dirty hacks Samsung had to use to make this actually work. Speaking of dirty hacks...

Split Screen

Wow. Just look at that. Doesn't that look like tablet computing nirvana? Don't be fooled, though. Sure it looks nice, but it actually works like crap. For starters, it's got the same problems as the mini-apps. It only works with the Browser, Polaris Office, S Note, Video Player, Gallery, Email, and that's it. None of those applications are really any good, and I would much rather use Chrome, Google Docs, YouTube, Google Talk, Twitter, and Gmail.

I should probably get into how this works first.

It's pretty simple, really. Any split screen compatible app will have this "Multiscreen" button in the top-right corner (note: your tablet will not actually grow a second screen when you press this). Press it to view the paltry list of apps you can open. Pick one, and it's it's time to be productive!

Now we've got our two apps open side by side. The "Multiscreen" buttons loses its nonsensical label, and each app gets a close button. There's a handy, new option under the multiscreen menu that lets you swap sides.

You can cut and paste parts of a screen capture into S Note, which is really cool. Take a screenshot, tap on it, circle the part you want, and drag it over. It's like I'm living in the future!

The biggest problem with split screen is the performance. Switching from the left app to the right app causes a 1-2 second touch input lag. Just watch:

If you use one app, and stay in one app, everything is fine, but switching to the other one introduces a huge amount of touch lag while it changes apps.

The reason this is so slow is because the two apps aren't actually running in the foreground together. Samsung doesn't have the technical ability to actually make this work, so they used a bunch of tricks to make it seem like two apps are running at once, when really one app is "on" at any given moment. I've got proof:

The recent app list only shows apps that aren't running in the foreground. For instance, if you have Gmail open, and click recent apps, Gmail won't show up, because you are already looking at it. If you go to the home screen and hit recent apps, Gmail will show up, because it isn't running in the foreground anymore. So, what I'm getting at is that recent apps is a good way to know if an app is running or not.

In this picture we have two apps "open," the browser and S Note. The last thing I touched was the browser, so it's the foreground app. S Note shows up in the recent apps list, because it is closed. If both of these were really running, neither would show up in recent apps. This is why there's such a huge delay when switching between apps, the app your switching to isn't actually running - the delay is caused by it silently opening in the background.

Recent apps is also totally confused. The browser and S Note are one screen, so really, you should only have 1 thumbnail that says "Internet / S Note," but, because this is a dirty hack, Android generates two recent app listings that both launch the same screen. It also horizontally stretches the half-screen thumbnails. Crazy.

There are also some cases where split screen doesn't keep its halves straight. Launching a video from the gallery, for instance, opens the video on the wrong side.

Keyboard

So here's a bad idea: Samsung decided that, instead of a button or something to change keyboard types they're going with a pinch-to-zoom gesture. (Who makes decisions like this?) So if you type to quickly, especially with 10-finger typing, you will accidentally trigger this option. As far as I can tell, there's no way to turn it off.

You'll be accidentally switching between 3 different keyboard styles: a normal, full screen keyboard, a smaller keyboard, I assume for Palm Pilot-style pen typing, and a split keyboard for thumb typing.

All the keyboards do have a fifth row of number buttons, which I absolutely love.

Auto correct is off by default, and you're going to want to keep it that way, because it has the same awful, confusing, in-field auto correct as the Galaxy S III. Most keyboards have a suggestions bar, but this keyboard puts the suggestions in the current text field. So if you type "Andr," it fills your text field with "Andrew" and it's up to you to resist the urge to backspace.

There is a handwriting recognition keyboard, too. It works surprisingly well. Though it really needs to have some kind of context-aware correction. Here I didn't open my "e" enough in "does," so it says "It also docs handwriting recognition."

Battery Life

The Note is packing a 7000mAh battery, so the battery life is fantastic. I would show you more battery screenshots, but the thing lasts for days, that would just take too long!

Samsung really needs to adjust the "low battery" warning. It popped up at 15%, I never charged it, and 12 (mostly idle) hours later, it's still going strong.

The biggest power problem I have is with the super short, proprietary charger. I understand that tablets need proprietary chargers because USB doesn't put out enough juice, but if it isn't going to be a standard, you've got to stop skimping out on the length. 3 feet isn't long enough to do anything, and I really can't go out and buy anything longer. The only solution is an extension cord.

Conclusion

On the software side: Samsung desperately wants to develop the next version of Android themselves, but they lack the technical ability, vision, ecosystem support, and design chops to make it happen. They want to add features, and maybe even have a good idea or two, but they just can't execute those ideas in a way that makes them good. Split screen, for instance, needed to be a core OS function, but it's clearly a hack that was tacked on at the UI layer. It's a bunch of tricks that look like split screen, but you're never really running 2 apps at once.

Floating apps have got to be the most frustrating thing in the world for Samsung. You try for years to differentiate yourselves with Android. You finally come up with a good idea, and you build it, and it works, and the UI is even almost-good, but it still doesn't matter because you don't control the right parts of Android to innovate in any meaningful ways. I want to float or split screen apps like Gmail, Google Talk, YouTube, and Chrome, and Samsung doesn't control those. Google owns all the good parts of Android, and if they aren't compatible with your new thing, then your new thing isn't any good. Floating apps are a great idea, and the functionality is well-implemented, but Samsung's floating apps can't do anything useful! I almost feel bad for them.

So my message to Samsung is: If you can't do this correctly, stop skinning Android. You've been trying and failing for so many years and nothing good has come of it, so just stop. Even when you have a good idea, like split screen and floating apps, you don't control the right parts of Android to make it work. So just accept it and leave the OS development to the professionals. You can't add any worthwhile functionality at the layer you normally change, and you have no taste for design. Stock Android is so good now, messing with it is like getting a fully-cooked meal from a famous, 5 star chef, and then smothering it with ketchup. So stop.

And as for the hardware: Please don't buy this.

Samsung is the world's largest Android OEM, by a huge margin. They need to get the message that this kind of half-assed, lazy, profit-margin-first style of device building is unacceptable.

The hardware is pure, unadulterated garbage. The build quality is so bad, I think it gave me cancer. Samsung gave us last year's display tech and saved their best tablet screen for Apple.

It's been about 1 month since Google forever changed the Android tablet landscape with the release of the Nexus 7, and it's clear the Note 10.1 was designed and priced in the pre-N7 dark ages. This tablet is bad at any price point, but, somehow, Samsung found the courage to charge five hundred dollars for it. That's 2-and-a-half Nexus 7s, and, to be honest, the N7 feels more expensive than the Note 10.1.

The saddest thing is, Samsung can do so much better. The Series 9 laptop guys make beautiful, kick-ass products out of aluminum every day. In fact, they use some crazy aluminum alloy called "Duralumin." I want that. You guys also make the iPad display, why don't you just whip up a widescreen version? Is the mobile division entirely run by passionless, cost-cutting bean-counters? Show some pride in your work, pull the best parts of Samsung together, and make something great.

The overall impression I get from this is arrogance. "We're Samsung. You slobs will buy anything we crap out. We don't have to try, we don't even need the latest components. You'll buy it no matter what."

Ron loves everything related to technology, design, and Google. He always wants to talk about "the big picture" and what's next for Android, and he's not afraid to get knee-deep in an APK for some details. Expect a good eye for detail, lots of research, and some lamenting about how something isn't designed well enough.

Comments

I have a Galaxy Note 10.1, and on the whole, I'm pretty satisfied with it. I think the hardware is nice, the pen is great, and there is actually a useful handwriting keyboard in it. I think $500 is a reasonable price.

The biggest problem with this and other Samsung devices is TouchWiz and their other modifications to Android, which cause endless problems with usability and stability. A second problem is the stupid and unnecessary proprietary connector on Samsung's tablets. ASUS manages to add standard HDMI and USB connectors in addition to their dock connector, so why can't Samsung?

“Crap”

Wow. After reading this review, I really hope that... you DON'T consider yourself a professional. I feel like I just read a review from a teenager on roids angry at the world taking it out on a review. Whatever happened to unbiased journalism? I guess that was just thrown out the window when the guy "got cancer from the galaxy note." This guy would sound more credible if he didn't sound like a total amateur. This guy makes me feel like anyone who is literate can be a critic. He didn't even bother to find the reason behind Samsung's decision on EVERYTHING.
I've read a LOT of reviews and this has to be the worst.
I'm certainly NOT saying the note 10.1 is the best or anything along that line but I do know one thing for sure: this review is "crap". Great choice of word by the way.

Michael

Hilarious review. This muppet is just trying to be as sensationalist as possible by making out that the Note is terrible. Which it isn't. It's not perfect, by any means, but it's pretty damn decent. The screen resolution is a little irritating, perhaps, but all the other 'cons' he comes up with are either false (In regards to performance) or irrelevant (NFC is a total white elephant, and no-one cares what the case is made of when the tablet is going to be in a cover for its whole life anyway).

I've owned several tabs, IPad2, Ipad 3, Google Nexus, and now the Note 10.1. I use the Note almost exclusively now. Why? Because the stylus (with the pressure sensitivity which you do not get with in the IPad) is a game-changer. I guess journalists who spend their times being schmoozed by Apple (not Samsung who have a very "businesslike" approach to marketing) may not care so much about real-life usage.

fondlebreasts

now aside from you repeating apple between every to words... this review is ignorant

Jonathan

Serious question, are there any other tablets that offer a pressure sensitive Stylus and are any of them any good? I wanted one of these to replace a very aged Mk1 Wacom Cintiq, but your comments on the build quality have put me right off. If tablet PCs are they way forward fair enough, but a nice small tablet that could fit in a bag with a sketchbook would be better.

witcher

After I've watched your demo video I ran away to "Saturn" (a German version of american "Circuit City" or "Best Buy") and tried hard a Galaxy Note 10.1 the way you did in that video. I really do not know what kind of tablet you got, but the one I tried to squeeze and force in the shop (the demo one which is touched and forced by hundreds DAILY) didn't even close do the creepy things you are showing us in the video. Samsung was always about firmware and less expenses on cover, so I am not surprised Ipad has better metallic carcass, but this is a small thing to me. And I am not a Samsung fan, but still I must say it: the reviewer definetely speaks like an apple-payed Samsung frustrated hater...

Jenny

Ron look at your picture and accept the fact you look fugly. What should be in trash can is not the best tablet, its your picture and your garbage posting. Kissing Apple's ass is your choice, but read real user comments from Amazon before you pretend knowing something.

N.P

have
red a lot of for and against SG Note 10.1 and it's very interesting that there
is so many passionate opinions. If it makes so much noise it must be something
about it. If you look at all the features separately ipad wins big time.It's
stylish perfected, excellent designed, system/interface thought through...
hmmm, entertainment device. SGN10.1 is average tablet, kinda unfinished,
slightly badly styled - personal assistant. I want to talk about value
proposition, in other words what the tablet does for me? If I can do my
sketches, take my notes, draw my graphs, edit images, which I am btw. doing all
the time as a designer and team coordinator and communicate my ideas without
using paper, cluttering my office, then I can survive without retina thing, having
lumpy plastic and not all the apps multitasking perfectly, looking a bit not
thought through. Most of the people say SGN10.1 is ok for watching movies
while doing something else. It seems like it can deliver a bit of entertainment
in addition. And at the end ... I would rather have pathetically designed touch
wiz that I can customize then perfectly designed IOS entertainment service.
Yes, ipad is funtastic for my granny and daughter. They understand it at once,
and don't have to learn anything. I like it too, it's great fun, but I don't
take it to work and It doesn't inspires me to do anything creative. So what do you want from a tablet?

baybiblu

I am not a Samsung fan and do not own the Note 10.1 but when the author uses phrases like "This is a Samsung device, so you just know things in this department are going to be bad, but I never expected they would be this bad" (in the Material & Build Quality section), you know that the author already has pre-existing biasness towards the company/product and that the review should be taken with a pinch of salt.

pedro

Seems like nothing satisfies you. Stfu and stop complaining..i own this tablet and love it

chuck Norris

You Guys should learn how to use the device i have 50 plus apps and there is no lag,.......oh and the plastic protects the device from getting harmed.........buy a cover if you guys are gonna bichis about it

i am writting this review witj ndote 10.1 .... i mean thia not that ad as described, samsung m8te bring more applications in the multitask

Alex

You are idiote. I have Apple 3 and Samsung Note 10.1. Samsung is better 100%. Sure.

Internal Affairs

It seems like the Android police force is now corrupt. How much did apple pay you guys to write this review? The tablet is not rubbish, your review is.

Valdemar Kjaer

I have never seen a perfect device. It there were any, I would not buy a new and better. Galaxy Note 10.1 (GN10) isn't perfect, however, it really changed the way I produce content. Now I can take free hand notes while in meetings/lectures/classes with the power of adding pictures of power point slides, fragments of web documents and many other stuff at the same time, as easily as a post-it adhesive. It's the power of evernote, dropbox, catch, tumblr, one-note, tablet, wacom digitizer, photographic machine, voice recognition, sound recorder in a 10.1 inch area. GN10 is for professional/study use. It doesn't need retina-display (probably a such high resolution display would make things slower and unnecessarily bigger in size). I don't need brushed aluminum. I need a light weight device. What is the problem with plastic? I can't understand this people's complaint. With 2 ultrabooks, desktops, motorola xoom 10.1, big screen Android 4.0 smartphones I believe I can say that GN10 came for a new and extremely powerful niche for tablets: the content production for professional/study use, in a broad sense. Until there is a better device, GN10 is now my first choice for many tasks. The reviewer should think about professional/study purposes despite entertainment/home - and understand the target of a device. Unfortunatelly, his opinion was very amateur. Sorry for my awful english.

insight_66

I guess the main point here is the price/quality issue. If it was priced a lot lower then plastic wouldn't be an issue but if you are going to charge a price in the upper range of the tablet you'd expect top quality in every aspect. Add to that the remaining shortcomings and the price becomes even more of an issue.

Kevin Battle

This review is biased on so many levels. I actually went to bestbuy and played with the note 10.1 a few days after reading this review and purchased it a few minutes after. This is a great productivity and play tablet. The only downside I've experienced so far is some slowdown when I'm using the split screen mode. The average person won't even notice the resolution unless you put your nose right up to the device. We all have our opinions about tech but being a reviewer you shouldn't give a good device a horrible review simply because you dislike the company. I'd recommend that anyone who's on the fence about this device should actually play with one for a while then make a decision. That should be done with any device purchase. The build quality and design is good as well. It's actually common sense to put the speakers on the front of a tablet. Great highs and lows but the bass could've been a bit better. Even touchwiz isn't as obtrusive as it once was. To each his own I guess......

troll harder

lol, this guy is a complete idiot! he even thinks that posting a video of his problems will prove his points but fact of the matter is, it just makes him look more retarded! don't know where you got your unit from because it was obviously defective. Mine runs smooth, and the plastic makes absolutely no noise! what a joke site. you should shut this joke of a site down.

http://twitter.com/Multisitio Multis Itio

Well I am pleased to come to this site and see such an indepth review. And to think I was interested in buying one. So I check out some reviews and, er..... Well, thanks for saving me 500 bucks.

insight_66

Finally an honest review and shopping around for a tablet I'm glad I came across it. For that price the quality should be top notch. I guess I have to look elswehere, maybe the nexus 10?

Altaykai Yamada

Maybe ass hole apple sabotages Samsung to make flaws in devices. Fucking Apple, they can all go to hell.

RealityCheck2013

That last photo made me laugh :D

DL

I think you may have gotten one of the faulty ones... i pressed on mine after reading this and barely feel it move and barely hear anything as far as plastic groan. I would actually blame the shipper.

Michael Jarnagin

Wow!
.... If he'd just started out by saying "I hate Samsung," that would
have saved me some time in reading this, though he admittedly came very close
in the title of his article. Fortunately, I actually went to the store and
checked the Note 10.1 for myself BEFORE reading this.... and bought it,...and
I've been happy with it ever since! .. I'm not sure WHERE he acquired HIS
Galaxy Note 10.1, but I'm happy to say that mine Doesn't creak!.. Never
has...and it sure as heck doesn't flop around in my hand like a
"marshmallow"..(?) The back is flexible, yes, but does NOT
"deform,"...nor does the back scratch easily..and the fit and finish
is smooth on all the seams...but on to the actual IMPORTANT part: The
performance is Great!... The unit is very fast and handles the multi-tasking
quite well, though I do agree that the very short list of S-Pen apps are rather
lame. Still the S-Pen itself is great! I'm an old "dinosaur" who
still likes to hand-write a note now and then, and there's something about
writing poetry to my Love in MY OWN handwriting, dropping it on a card and
signing "I Love You"... I also work quite a lot with PDF forms and
contracts which not only require a handwritten signature, but often require
handwritten revisions or additions, and NO other stylus/pad combination has
come close to being practical before the Note 10.1. As for the display, I guess
my old eyeballs aren't as discerning as Mr. Amadeo's, because MY Note 10.1's
screen offers a beautiful display that's more than adequate for anything that
I've watched, from streaming Netflix to very detailed surgical videos...so I'm
not going to trash it on those grounds... I have the Note 10.1 - 32 gig tablet,
and I DID pay $549 for it from Best Buy...and
believe it or not, I DON'T feel I was "raped" by Samsung... Can you
get a 32 gig Android tablet for less than that? Sure you can... but it won't
have the S-Pen apps or capabilties, which are important to me. You tell me:
"I can get an iPad3 32 gig for that! .. Yes, you can...and you'll have an
iPad...and no Flash,...and no S-Pen,...and your iPad3 will most likely be
obsolete by March when they come out with the iPad4...and you'll be the
"dinosaur" with Ancient 6 month old technology! (Oh, my God!).... and
you'll stand in line again with the other lemmings to get the NEW iPad...if
that's what you like.... I also own an ASUS TF700T, and the Note 10.1's
performance is much faster, and the multi-tasking is a great advantage over the
ASUS. I gave the TF700 to my wife.. So, in Conclusion, Mr. Amadeo,... a review
isn't made more credible by making as many negative comments as you can dream
up (some of which are clear exaggerations) and pretending to be objective. Mr.
Amadeo clearly is NOT objective, and I find that to be a shame, especially
since I've come to respect what I've read in the Android Police. Insultingly
arrogant does not necessarily equal "professional."...or
credible....Just sayin'

frankyRIZZO

All lies, you just don't know how (and/or are too lazy) to customize and optimize Android. Plastic is not "creaky" at all either, it's a very solid build. Go back to your iToys and let the rest of us get some work done.

Nick

Just...WOW! Creaking squishy plastic? Can't customize the pen button? I own several Apple products (ipad included) and my galaxy note 10.1 is my first Android device and I am amazed at the author's audacity in this 'review' - flat out lies. Pathetic! Both platforms have their ups and downs depending what you want. I have never had my split screen lag either. If you are going to write, at least write ethically.

909830XME

all fake .. galaxy note 10.1 is the best tablet, all lag and bugs has been fixed by latest update..

Adham Said

Another apple fan boy, I am using the note 10.1 N8000 right now, and I have got it 2 weeks ago, and really I don, t know where you got this Shiit you are saying about this device, sorry to call you an apple fan boy, but I could't find other reason.
Guys the Note 10.1 is perfect, really I have used the iPad and it is nothing compared to the note, if you already have it, you will know what I am taking about.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004434611424 Poh Geeh

I own 3 Galaxy note 10.1 tabs. They sure beat the other 3 ipad 4s we have. Ipad has been boring since the ipad 2. The rest of the android tablets out there are just not good at all, including the Nexus 7/10.

Poonperm Vardhanabindu

This is, by far, the most biased product review I've ever read.

Low Quality

Just bought a brandnew. Fully charged it at night. The next day works pretty well until I locked the screen. Suddenly doesn't turn on... Now I had to bring it back to the Dealer. =(

Happy Galaxy Note 10.1 User

To hire this idiot was a big mistake from a site called Android Police. For every stupidity that he writes, the photos shows otherwise. I hope to never see another review from this bastard. Do a favor for the evolution of mankind and kill yourself.

Winny

I really didn't want to comment on this review but after I saw how baised it was, I had to. I was just casually looking for some INFORMATIVE reviews on the tablets I am interested in and as soon as I saw the first line I knew this review was going to be utter crap. You even went to the lengths of taking a photo of the device in a trash and telling people not to buy it, I think that you sir, may be the worst reviewer ever.

Marcel

You got a furbished note 10.1 a have one, it does not do sounds like cracks and so on... the back is ok, it is not scratched at all... the touch wiz is ok, still i use SPB on all my android devices...

barnezy

Was this written by Apple when they saw the latest market share figures? In my opinion the Note 10.1 is the most useful tablet on the market to date.

I use it in business to do things you can only dream about doing with an iPad! I have an iPad, and I now view it as usless. One app at a time.... what use is that?

How have Apple innovated since the first iPad? They haven't, all they have done is repackage the same product and tweaked the hardware to bring it more in line with whatelse is available, albeit still behind the curve. In fact the iPad mini is a blatant imovation of Samsung and Google offerings.

Why is everyone obssed with tablets being made from alloy and glass? Firstly a tablet is a consumable product that needs replacing every couple of years, so it doesnt need to be built to survive a war, secondly glass and alloy are very hard materials and leads to a very fragile item if dropped, no energy absorption there, just a broken screen. Thirdly it's heavier. And lastly, if everyone like the feel of the iPad so much, why do half the people that own one, put it in a cheap case until it is obsolete and replaced?

Apple fanboys need to wake-up and open their eyes, there is so much more you could be doing with a tablet device, but you're just too ignorant to see past the Apple marketing machine.

Kay

What planet are you on moron? You call this arrogant? WTF ? how would you call apple?

Kay

To add more: you morons (to be honest absolute morons) think, can compile few things and post an article claiming utter nonsense? You people should be sacked and shot.

vazivouzoukos

I think that you don't know what you are talking about. Save your critique for your mirror.

rom3o90

I read this a while ago and I just got this tablet a few days I just came back to say that the person who wrote this article shouldn't never be allowed to write another review on this pages. This like the screen resolution you really need to see it close to another tablet with higher resolution to see the difference, for the daily usage its really good a really crystal clear. And all the goodies that jelly beans will bring to this device makes it one of the best if not the best tablet out there, I have right here and I sold my ipad 3 to get this note 10.1, and im so glad I did. The person who wrote this article is completely out of his mind and completely wrong..and of coarse and idiot

Adrian Bennett

What an absolute clown it's a great tablet. This article could of been pulled from an isheep forum, in real life who really cares if its plastic?Ok it doesn't feel or look as expensive as Asus tablets but that's because it's cheaper and your money goes on what's inside. Screen resolution is fine for this size screen, I looked at an iPad 2 and 3 side by side and not much difference. Bought a note 10.1 today for my sons Christmas and I am impressed, it's like a more functional iPad. Do us a favour and stop writing bias, bitter and inaccurate nonsense. Ps I have a gs3 and it's the best phone available, if that was made out if metal it would be a brick

inventorman

The reviewer is seriously incompetent. I own this device and would rate it higher than any other device in the $500 price range. People complaining about "squeaky plastic" are clearly spoiled brats who buy into some strange notion that a massed produced product should be metal. Being a professional designer, machinist and inventor, I have to say that a plastic case is perfectly acceptable as most intelligent users of such devices PUT THEM INTO PROTECTIVE CASES. Plastic will not leave a dent where aluminum will be permanently bent after trauma. Please use logic and reason when reviewing products. It almost sounds as if this reviewer were paid to write negative untrue remarks. Sad what people read and believe today :(

you.r.a.wanker

You r a fuckin dickhead

j

love the biased review by the apple fanboy... oops wait a sec that was sarcasm

Cos

I could not believe my eyes reading this article. I own one Note N8000 and I must say that is a dream come true. I write this with the S Pen using the handwrite recognition from my tablet even if I have 2 computers on doing different tasks. This is because this tablet is just so easy to use, responsive, everything you could wish. Since I purchase it, I use my computer only for heavy computational tasks, everything else, I mean EVERYTHING I do now on the tablet. And giving the freedom that Android is offering, I can do things well beyond what was intended for this device, like programming in Python and using it with Photoshop on PC (for drawing).
This is my first post ever about a device, and I'm doing it because it's really worth it. And this article is unjust and biased.
I'm very glad I didn't read it before. I could just miss it.

Rory Currin

I didn't even read this because it is so obvious from the beginning that you are a samsung hater. Worst review I have ever seen and that is just from catching pieces here and there.

Waeq

You are Idiot, you are completely fucked! Are you normal, it is almost best tablet!

Andrei Lanuza

This is the most embarrassing piece of technology journalism I've had the displeasure of reading in years. If i was your professor, i would have flunked you.

Morgan Delaney

It is always amusing to read reviews from Apple fanboys. I have actually analyzed in depth both devices. Nobody argues about the desigh quality and the fashion statement of the iPat (I call this the Dildo effect!) but the Note 10.1 can and has actually been useful beyond being just a toy. The rest of the review is not even worth discussing.

sguyx

try jellybean in a note 10.1 =)
its awesome!

dale

Such biased, useless review ever. I own one and it's an amazing device if you know what you are doing. Someone like this half learned idiot , will obviously blame the gadget. Get a life man, you IDIOT.

Dale

productive

it looks like You wanted this to be a bad tablet before you got it, so you wrote the review and only then got it.
This is the most useful thing i bought for a long time. It is amazing how things became easier.
You can keep your bull review and we will keep being productive.

bozan

I don't know what kind of problem you have with Samsung, but I think you haven't been fair in this review. You directly throw the Note to trash.

I bought this tablet 3 months ago for taking notes at university and it haven't dissapointed me at all. In fact, more people has bought it after viewing me using it and, incredibly, a New Ipad user has commented me that he would prefer Note 10.1 instead of hims to take notes.

You talk about the bad building quality. Well I don´t know what are you speaking about: the plastic doesn't groan or creek by itself. I feel it rigid enough, never notice it deformed. If you say so, I can only imagine you have pushed it very strong or that you are a brute.

The second bad thing you post is that it looks ugly. Ok, then let's call ugly other tablets and, of course the Ipad.

Third. You speak about resolution. You really think that's a big problem? I don't think so. You watch a video in this screen and you don't notice the diference with the Retina screen. Yes, you can view the difference with a magnifing glass. Is that the way you watch films? On the other hand, do you know what happened to New Ipad with the new Retine screen? Correct: 200MB apps, 8 hours of battery (this crappy Note 10.1 has only 12.5 hours) and heating problems. In all the time I have been using this tablet it has never heaten up like Ipad, even after 8 hours taking notes at university.

Yes, the SPen button does things. You only have to read the instructions. And you can also configure the functions of the button. The pen works perfect for writing and drawing and that's the thing, it doesn't have to be a beautiful pen. I'm sure if they had made this in, let's say, aluminium you had complaint the same.

I don't think NFC technoloy is useful. It is a technology focused for identification/validation of people and devices. More like a keycard. You really think this is useful? As all big companies do, Samsung tries new technologies and according to the market response, they keep useful things and eliminate useless ones. NFC is not widely spread enough to demand its use on a portable device. Not now at least. Again, this is another silly thing you comment as a big problem.

About the multitasking comments you made, it is again the same thing again: an unfair, unjustified attack against a good quality thing, that, for unknown reasons you want to discredit. I can't believe you say it is useless to have a floating calculator, or notebook, or email window while you are doing other things. And in the other hand I can't believe you talk about lag to switch between apps in the split screen. The only problem of the split screen is that only works with Samsung Apps (which I don't like much, to tell the truth), but don't lie to the people: there is NO lag when switching between apps in the split screen mode. At the moment you touch one of them, it instantly changes, no lag. The only true thing you said here is the compatibility of the apps.

So, after this review to your review, I give you a 0 out of 10 (and throw you to the trash bin, like you made to the tablet).

The good things:

- Still looking for

The bad things:

- Only one truth out of over a million lies
- Bad criterion
- Lack of tech knowledge
- Lack of common sense
- Personal problems against Samsung
- Contained rage
- Ipad user/fanboy
...
more to come

I do not like Samsung…

Got it a week ago. Apart the resolution issue - which may be a little frustrating when Ipad is next to it - I must say that this tablet is really great. I am an engineer, so being able to open a PDF drawing and scribble on it while I am on a plane is fantastic. Watching a mind-relaxing show while scribbling - what more would I need.

The fonts are not that crisp... Well, my first "machine" was C64, so I do not mind it.

What is the worst thing ever about this piece of hardware - it is a Samsung. I just do not like Samsung... I had no choice though. No other tablet with these specs has a real stylus.

david

holy shit you are one biased mother fucker. I do agree however that the shitty plastic fucking annoys me with its squeakiness. All of the other problems that you mentioned however, have been remedied. I think you should go ahead and review the product again now that it has matured.

Note 10.1 LOVER!

I see a problem with this nasty review.
No 1 The length of the Charger is a good length. f you need /want a longer Cord, buy one.this is the average length.
No 2 The squeekeness Only happens when you squeeze the device too much. My cuisin saw this and did the same to her iPad and it fell. Hold it, don`t squeeze it.
No 3 I have used been taking notes for a while on this Tablet, The S Pen Compares with the weight of a ball point pen.
No. 4 Reviewers (you know the professional ones) have all said if you don't want the Capabilities of the Pen/Stylus then DON'T Buy THE DAMN NOTE 10.1. If for any reason You bought this tablet for the spen, and don't like it then you are a fool.

http://www.facebook.com/pamela.newton.6654 Pamela Newton

Wow. You said you couldn't run YouTube split screen. I did it successfully. Go online to YouTube, then, select
Split screen. Stupid and unfair review. Duh.

http://www.facebook.com/pamela.newton.6654 Pamela Newton

I use screenshot all of the time, saving things I've looked up online with prices, maps, for later review or can email to someone. Turns out it was super useful.
I'm glad it's located on the bottom bar, although it is modifiable with another app . Review was unfair by someone who didn't take the time to get know the tablet.

http://www.facebook.com/pamela.newton.6654 Pamela Newton

I have the white tablet. No squeaks at all. Don't get the complaints.

http://www.facebook.com/pamela.newton.6654 Pamela Newton

If it is slow, remove the four apps from the home page, which you can access when needed, by swiping them off the page. I left the time though.
This will make it fast. Again, learn to work with your tablet.

Josiah

Wow way to remain the unbiased professional approach to a product... Last time I visit this site.

ud6

absolutely rubbish review. Maybe the reviewer wants something that isn't invented yet, but the performance is equal to the ipad, it is lighter and thinner, it has a pressure sensitive screen (so you can draw thicker or more opaque lines with more pressure, great for design), you can open several apps at once. The pen IS light, thankfully. Basically, it is a choice between this an the ipad, but for me the S-pen and having several apps open at once speeds up productivity enormously. I'm guessing the reviewer works for apple.

Fatore

Find another hobby. You such as a blogger.

http://www.facebook.com/adam.pristel Adam Pristel

total suck review.

grutasss

Every man should be allowed his opinion. That said, I'm certain the 10.1 is easily the front runner amongst the Tabs in the market currently. I'm also certain it's the most adaptable when we talk professional use. I've not even seen the back of my N8000 since I bought it. These things are supposed to be in Tab folders, no? But, again, lm not writing a review on the product, I'm using it. The reviewer should use the Tab, not squeeze it to see if it will make a sound. Lol!

hahaha232425

you suck at reviews! clearly you have no clue on how to write a none biased review. It was a waste of time reading this review.

About 6 months ago I sold my iPad3 and got the Note 10.1 and like it more all the time. I have art and note taking apps galore, SwiftKey Flow, Flipboard, etc. The list is endless. I'm looking forward to Jelly Bean, but ICS has been rock solid. I don't think it has ever crashed once--an occasional new app will force stop once in a while, but this tablet is seriously great. The review is seriously compromised.

Andreas Müller

This review is just rubbish. I own this device, and it is by far the best Tablet I know of for taking notes at university. The Performance is great and I really can't see your problem with TouchWiz. It's true, that the screen resolution isn't that amazing compared to others, but that is hardly recognisable, if you don't put an Ipad 4 next to it as reference.

So, if you're not able to write a fair review, just leave it.

http://www.facebook.com/alan.scantlebury.75 Alan Scantlebury

I have found my Note 10.1 to be sturdy, multitasking to be excellent. It is in the same condition as i got it, no marks on the back as is shown here and have been using it frequently for the past week, it has ran everything incredibly fast and a lot of what is written in this "review" is incredibly incorrect or they got a faulty device? one would test more than one device How you managed to get a job with anything remotely connected to technology is beyond me. Further more only the Samsung Galaxy SIII LTE has these specifications, do get your facts right before attempting to write a reasonable review. Perhaps Mcdonald's is hiring? I'll have fries with that please.

AppleSucksForLife

Obviously have not tried it havent you? Read reviews from real users and not from professional but biased reviews

confusedUk

Is this a real review? It reads like a 16 year old English schoolboys' obnoxious attempt at handing in what He misguidedly thought was a "cool sounding" review for his gcse English exam (of a gadget he has only ever touched a few times in Argos!)

reviewer is an idiot.

Your review is screw up. You doest not even deserve from any sponsor for you to comment. Obviously you lack knowledge on this tablet. Its the best i have ever own.

Your review are totally disgusting and its the lsst time i will be be visit on your bad review.
Its sad to say, but you are totally an idiot knowing nothing.

Mr. Cheeba

The pros outweigh the cons by so much! Note10.1 is solid overall tablet that does alot of ish'. I disagree with this review. Just my opinion...

pierre

In Spite of this review I bought it and I like it ..da screen could be better ..however there is not any issues of lag ..and with JB 4.1.1 almost any app can be open in multiview ..trust me if you dont mind a not sharpest screen but you want a diferent experiencie you are gonna love it

CptXabaras

One of the best review i've seen on the device. Things is, the great majority of the people who had chance to have a look at the device didn't found all the garbage you have wrote...

coolmind

I bought the gadget and works like magic, I think reviewer is some one kicked out out Samsung. And trying to get even

Brandon

Well, I liked it.

http://twitter.com/chrisalexthomas Christopher Thomas

I got this device at christmas and i know that most companies fill their devices with crap, so i wanted a device i could upgrade with the stock jelly bean asap. The guy is right that the plastic is flimsy but i dont think that is a killer. He is also right that in the day of the nexus 10, a 1280 res tablet isnt the best, but didnt this tablet come out four months ago? So i think we need to let that one slide too.

Slow? It was with the touchwiz software, but when i rooted it, installed a jelly bean from from xda, you would be surprised at how much faster it can get, now i know that many of you are not going to know or want to do that, i am just saying that its much much better with the stock rom.

The batter life is great and the quad core performance is amazing, the only real let down is the screen, but like i said, four months old, what do you expect, but i didnt want the nexus 10 because its only dual core, for me, that is where google or samsung(it is a samsung right?) dropped the ball

Dietmar Lodrick

Yes, just for the cause, I have to add my opinion, too. I don't understand how this review on the one hand can cover so many aspects of this tablet, and on the other is confronting the reader with such a big bag of very bad interpreted data. With every sentence I read I felt a bit more sorry for Samsung because people with an equal motivation and/or deficit of reviewing skills, fail to give a well approached review of what this tablet is and what it is able and meant to do. This is happening all over the web something like apple had brainwashed one half of human kind, maybe little electro-robotic needles rising from ipod nano headphones or sth.

i am really confident that everyone who lays on hands his-/herself on this tablet will soon be very confident with what it does, unless he or she is not in need of the offered functions or does not have the skills to use it accurately. As one of the lonely right interpreted points of this review already declared, the tablet is not only a consume-zombie-device, but aims to be functional and productive, useful in areas like universities, offices and so on. The normal android applications and hardware abilities come as a plus, and are so good that i did not experience any problems ever. The device runs very smooth, better than all other devices I checked, in fact, with exception of the Ipad. I don't see a need to explain why smart peaple don't need ipads,The S-note application and Pdf-editing functions, as well as the rest of standard organizing functions, make this thing more useful than I was willing to imagine, when I saw the Samsung promotion the first time. The featured S-pen is something like the excalibur of tablet pcs.

SO again go and proof it yourselfes this review is shit and should be rated bad like most comments I read already did.

Cory Ducey

Don't know where he gets the idea that the plastic backing creaks. I just did it to mind and guess what? No creaking. If you want to deliberately abuse your Note in that fashion then you don't deserve one..The big advantage of a plastic backing? Better signal reception. I was all over my office and at home. I got flawless reception in both networks.

The specifications of the Note 10.1 is among the highest to date so to say it has bad specs? Wow...I'll give him the NFC and the short USB cable.

As for the S Pen, it most certainly has function. For example, if I wanted to use a color in an image when I am using PS touch, I touch the color, press the S Pen's button and I get the color to use.

For a screen shot, you hold the button, touch and hold the pen on the screen and you get a full screen capture.

Hold the button and double tap the screen and you get an S Note (handy if you want to write a reminder on something).

If he had of cared to read some of the documentation available on both the device and Samsung's site, he would get that.

This is a device that has a work and play combination element.

Sorry, dude. This article was a poor representation and I know of many people that really liked this device and would gladly trade in their tablet for this one.

galaxy note 10.1 owner

As an owner of a galaxy note 10.1 I laugh at this review. You can go into settings and remove the screenshot button. Just as every other complaint regarding touchwiz is a simple option change. Guess he's enjoying some apple money. This reviewer is a joke.

Bryan Williams

I had a note 10.1 for 2 weeks and took it back. Using it for school, I found most of what this guy said to be true. The ideas are nice but many time implemented with many flaws that cost time or lost work. It wasn't a bad tablet, but I feel it could have been better if they left android alone. I also think so much going on on the bottom bar was irritating to use. I just used a nexus 10 and dividing the notification and system toggle to the top leaving the nav buttons at the bottom was smart, but thats my preference. In the end I was using lecture notes (not a samsung app), ezpdf (not a samsung app), gmail (not a samsung app), and firefox (not a samsung app). So multitasking was out for me. The floating calculator for me was useless as I needed a scientific one, so in the end I had a tablet and an spen and that didn't seem enough to go paperless in my scenario unfortunately... I wish it did.

HappyOwner10.1

this guy needs to stop reviewing stuff if he is going to come out with this crap. Yes the device is plastic, all of samsung stuff is. but it performs well and the multi-tasking features along with the SPen are great. wasnt buying it to be my multimedia home theater gaming device I actually bought it for the productivity features that it was marketed for and works well for that.

Kris L

Is this reviewer retarded? Almost everything about it is inaccurate. They continuously slam samsungs build quality, completely ignoring that fact that they are renowned for excellent build quality (just because you prefer aluminum over plastic doesn't mean something is poorly built) the screenshot of the tablet in the bin at the end was utterly stupid. A review based on emotion and impatience is no review at all.

lily

this review is too biased that even someone who doesn't know anything about modern gadgets will immediately pick up on your derision. plus even if there are any true points, people will be hard pressed to believe them since you focused strongly on the negative. yet again, you don't forcefully bash something in the high opinion of the majority in your loudest voice, it's a waste of energy, as your voice will simply be drowned. just ease up a little next time.

S

Such an absolutely staggeringly poorly written review. I would be amazed if anyone gave you any work in this sector. What a joke.

med school student

I read his review and was quite shocked bcs It's not at all how I have experienced my note tab.. it have ben so useful for me in school.. best thing I've ever purchased in my life .. I lprefer my note tab more now than paper... and about the "mini s note application '' it's actually being saved in your regular s note application.. so if you open it after you've done some quick notes with the mini application you will find it there and you can also edit them there... the mini s note application is just for making quick notes while in the regular s note application you can do so much more than just handwriting and typing

little miss

I love my galaxy note 10.1, and now that jelly bean is released in us it is tons better. There is only one thing i want a pdf annotater that is in the multitasking tray. Polaris is in the tray but you can only read pdf. This is an awesome tablet. I like it better than a windows computer.

little miss

When something is the best it is going to be bashed. Never a problem with this tablet, if they come out with an upgraded mobel, i would buy it and my hubby wants this one.
Other companys will bash other products. This is the new kid on the block, he is going to be picked on but he can take it and hold his own. People will soon see which tablet stands tall and whick falls by the tablet wayside. Who raw for Samsung.

Sk

I own this and love it, but all of the issues the reviewer points out still apply. It could have been a much better or cheaper tablet than what it is. I just use a case, and I disabled those widgets. In addition to the problems listed, I also had a bug that disabled the clipboard entirely. Samsung just released Jelly Bean update however, and it improved the UI speed and gave Gmail, and YouTube the ability to float. My perspective is different since this is my first tablet and I was only looking at pressure sensitivity. For those reasons, I think I have higher regard for the device. Consider that for 150 dollars (incl case) more than a medium Wacom Intuos5 the Note is a fantastic portable sketchbook, and that I use a VNC server to operate my computer through it for a pseudo-Cintiq experience. Ultimately it was a choice to be ripped off by Samsung or Wacom. I don't regret the Note at all, but he is right. It had the potential to be much better.

Haz Al-D

I've had this tablet since release and I've had non of the problems or complaints that this apple fan-boy has had, bar the camera. the camera sucks that i agree with, but i agree with mik and krisboats, in fact I'm buying one for my girlfriend today. call this a review? that picture of the bin is where this review belongs

Ellen

After reading a lot of reviews on this tablet and having the tablet myself, I feel like this is just a horribly done review. Please stop making reviews.

Mrs. Smith

He sounds angry.... You're jealous of Samsung! :'(

Al

only bad thing here is the author's review

GiGi

The Note 10.1 is an amazing tablet, especially with Jelly bean. I bought this even though I read this review first, because it's obvious this review is total garbage and should not be taken in consideration if you want to buy this tablet

Lee

Excuse me, this product should not be considered as a lazy grab . The quad-core really kicks Apple's performance, and I've heard that Asus' s best tablet lags a lot even though it has .2 more GHz. And now the jellybean update is here now which, in my opinion is the best feature, allows your screen to have a new way of multifunctioning. You can have multiple applications open at the same time. The predictive text box at the top of thr keyboard is just so amazing. It actually predicts your next big or small word. And FYI, you CAN delete certain applications. I deleted crayon physics the first day I got this tablet. And you looked a bit uncomfortable when you're writing on snote. Did you know that it's "palm resistent" with the screen? And now I've got a new, nicely decorated Google search which is just sliding my finger above the home button. With the third party widgets I can remember everything without panic. Also, the spen's got some new features too. Press the button and swipe up and it will open something like Siri. But with the pen, if you write an exclamation point, then it will open email. You can also add more shortcuts like snote and customize the written command.
The materials? Yes you're completely right but it shouldn't be regarded as a "arrogant, piece of crap."
Good day.

Nick

It's not a 'review' and shouldn't be called one either. It's just a personal opinion from a guy who saw something that he didn't like and decided that everything therefore was crap. Here everything is ugly and doesn't have what he would have wanted instead and it seems like he has been most thorough in describing the things on his crap list. You review what's actually there and let the reader decide if it has what HE wants... and definitely if HE thinks it's ugly or not. I love my Note, but that's probably because I don't care for Google Docs, Google Talk and Twitter... and don't think it's ugly. Stuff like "bottom shelf of Kmart", "occured to me that people might see me" and "suppose you're a crazy person" don't have a place in a review... and don't get me started on "please don't buy this".
To the ones who are curious about this product: Leave this "thing" aside. There are tons of seriously and professionally written reviews out there, which will describe what the Note "is and has" and not what "I think it is because of the way it looks and hasn't got from the list of things I would have wanted it to have". It had both everything I wished for and more. If I would write a review "his way", my wife would get jealous... but the review would still just be crap.

mat

LoL at the people who bought one, myself included, the only good thing about this tablet is the quick tray like menu, and the battery life, everything else sux, struggles with non Samsung apps, lags like crazy, using the pen is shit, and touch screen sometimes reacts to your fingers before you touch it so you end up selecting, or deleting stuff, wishing found this review earlier, its quite honest in my opinion.

AppleSucksForLife

Never experienced lag. Maybe the power saving mode is on. Turn it off

Oliver

If I'm not mistaken this review was written before the release of jellybean 4.1 which out of the box my note 10.1 was really choppy...... so I understand the frustrations in this article..... But with jellybean this thing is flawless super fast and the poem is super responsive. Samsung did a great job on this one.

Yi Xun

I sort of felt anger and bias on this post,
I owned 2 Ipads and 2 Samsung tablets
all of them were cool and okay.
Sure, they all have their pros and cons, but this takes it to a whole lot new level of exaggeration.

This is ridiculous

Samsung haters, Apple lovers and only eye-candy watcher people shouldn't do unreal reviews about professional devices like SGN 10.1. And who gives a f*** about NFC. Don't say that's the biggest problem along with "cheap looking pen"...

Gábor Tolnai

amsung haters, Apple lovers and only eye-candy watcher people shouldn't do unreal reviews about professional devices like SGN 10.1. And who gives a f*** about NFC. Don't say that's the biggest problem along with "cheap looking pen"... It is the only tablet that I can almost use for everything like a computer.

Jason Hassler

I got my Note 10.1 after they released the Jelly Bean update so I've been very satisfied with it. I really don't understand why so many complaints about this tablet being so ulgy. The two tone color scheme seems just as visual appealing as any other tablet out there. With a case on doesn't seem to matter as much anyway. The S-pen is a little small in my hands but works very well. Might get the larger pen later. This article really nitpicks and blows a lot of stuff way out of proportion. The plastic noise and flex seems like the tablet would be able to take drops and physical abuse better then metal. Aluminum scratchs like crazy easy, and looks like junk in not much time. What I really love about this tablet though is the two front facing speakers. Don't know why no one else thought this was a good idea, cause it's one of its best features. Just reading the way this guy writes his articles is so over the top at times he destroys any sense of intelligence in very short order to the point where reading this drivel becomes funny and yet sad and pathetic at times. I really hope the whole "shame and embarrassment" thing about testing the camera out was some sort of failed attempt at humor, because if it was serious then its pretty sad this guy can't even do simple product testing with out so many feelings involved. I could go on, but this articles low quality speaks for itself.

Meri

Honestly, he might be right.

However, once you hit the "If you're actually enough of a loser dorkwad to HAVE any local music/videos/whatever" it's clear what kind of a prick you're dealing with.

the worst review i have ever read i have a note 10.1 and its great this guy maybe working for apple or somthing like that

http://www.facebook.com/owais.shaikh.7568 Owais Shaikh

This is an example of a person who is satisfied with nothing that he gets, he hates his life. If you really want an excellent tablet with a brand name, it is the Nexus 10 or the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700T or if you want a cheap but a tablet that can match the Nexus 7, it is Prestigio 5080CPRO or Prestigio 9.7 Ultra or Arnova 10b G3

http://www.facebook.com/owais.shaikh.7568 Owais Shaikh

Once again, this person is an idiot

dfsfs

prick

DigiCpr9

You really are egregiously bias to iOS; and your review should be declared, "A Crime Against Humanity". Not yourself, but your review (nothing personal). It is just full of fallacies.

portuguese

I tried a note 10.1 in a shop and it felt just like Ron said, and I quote: "pure, unadulterated garbage". And it didn't felt any good to use either, it was just so choppy while switching between apps!
When I entered the shop I was decided to buy a productivity tablet, and so I did: I bought a Surface RT 'cause I don't really care about app shortage. For me, angry birds is enough since I'll be using the surface as a replacement to my netbook (yes, I used a netbook until 2013).
When I got home I needed to check out if every note 10.1 was that crappy, and I ended out in this precise review.
PS: Build quality is the main reason why I never bought our ever will buy a samsung device. I'll stick with SONY (smatphones[xperia T]) and ASUS(tablets[tf201]). And microsoft, of course!

AppleSucksForLife

Turn the power saving mode off if its on if not then maybe its a defect never experienced lag when using device in the mall stand

Sergio Lanatta

This review is horrible. The Galaxy note 10.1 is hands down the best tablet I've used. The s-pen is amazing and the screen resolution is more than acceptable. In all honesty, this tablet is the perfect student note taking device and excels at everything it does. Wacom grade pen sensitivity and responsiveness make it the perfect laptop replacement and note taker. Its the tablet that everyone has been waiting for and its incredibly light.

N8shon

I just had this tablet for the past week. Everything was lightning fast, the multitasking was excellent, and the S-Pen functionality was awesome. As a Note 2 owner, I wanted to keep it, but the screen resolution forced me to return it because it was difficult to use for reading for any length of time. Here's hoping that the replacement later this year comes with a higher-res screen. That was literally my only complaint.

bludevilx

loved the review ... some just have a little higher standards for the devices they own than others. I'm glad you called sammy out on all these things I personally just purchased one myself and I was going to keep it and deal with the things u noted but after reading this and seeing I'm not the only one who thinks this way i have returned it. i can wait till the next batch of tablets in the coming months based off the S4, I think i will be more pleased with its performance at that time.

kupan

I believe the screen resolution has something to do with the S-pen. It limits the screen resolution. Take a look at the Nexus 10 also designed by Samsung, it has a 2560 x 1600 (300 ppi) screen.

Thatguyfromvienna

Damn, kid.
Did your boyfriend just dump you?
This review is totally pathetic.

FJ

make your own tablet for yourself then.. -_-
I root this tablet, and everything goes contrary than your review..
I multi-window all apps that I want.. B-)
I know you're not stupid.. But don't think users are stupid though..

Dennis

my friend (81)has bought a galaxy note 10.1 he is trying for 2 weeks to empty the email bin!!how do you do that????

Dennis

My ipad 3 looks veryu simple ans not flash at all next to my old pals Samsung galaxy 10.1 and his sound is wow compared to min,but, for an old guy like me the ipad is so easy to use!!

JBSF90

I have owned/used several different iOS devices. I had a 2nd gen ipod touch, which was fine, but it became outdated and I upgraded to the 4th gen, which is a piece of crap, total garbage. I have also used ipads owned by friends and relatives, and they are fine; I genuinely like them overall. But since I purchased my Note 10.1, I almost never use my laptop anymore. This tab is fast and has so many great functions. Awesome for browsing, games, and scores of other things. And the Android software allows me to do things that simply cannot be done on an ipad, like dragging and dropping files, creating and editing Word documents and Excel spreadsheets, etc. This review is trash. It is obviously without a doubt written by an Apple-worshipping iOS fanatic who is thus blinded to the superior capability of other products on the market, thereby somehow granting him the right to shred them to bits on the internet without any legit reason. The fact that ample space in this article is dedicated to defecating on the galaxy phones is further evidence of this.

First off, there is no mention of the clipboard, which is a phenomenal feature. The popup apps are better and more useful than he gives credit for (and if you download the Twitter app, it is available as a popup; sorry to spoil that one for you). I have used both the Apple calendar ans S Planner, and as far as I can tell, S Planner is superior in almost every way. The only upside to the Apple calendar is that you can categorize events by color and filter them by category, which S Planner does not allow. But with the S Planner, it is possible to copy an event and paste it elsewhere in the calendar. You can also link S Notes to an event, which I find useful. The screen is fantastic. Retina is great, but not enough better to even make it a close call between the products for me. And I wouldn't even CONSIDER buying an iPad until it is capable of using widgets.

The S Pen rocks. The writer of this article simply pointed out that it feels cheap in the hand and hardly has any features. I wonder if he even took a half a second (or activated half a brain cell) to see what this thing is capable of. It has a slew of gesture features, plus the customizable quick command functions. It is a fantastic drawing tool, and is more pressure sensitive than he gives it credit for. The photoshop app (included) also makes excellent use of the Pen, as do S Note and others.

This tab does everything I could possibly need it to and much much more, and I have found it to be more functional than the ipad. My money was well-spent, and I wouldn't dream of switching. The reviewer apparently had the illusion that it was built EXACTLY to his specifications and preferences, so of course he was disappointed. Life goes on. This product is insanely better than you give it credit for.

Ayin

I'm using this tablet since last year and i really love it~~

Nick

This is BS. I have had this tablet for 6 months, and still over the top.

I have one question to this guy... what is the resolution of your computer screen? Why is people so obsessed about having a tablet with zillions of dots everywhere, and then they have a 21inch screen with 768 vertical pixels (that's if they even know this number)??

Wake up!! They are lying to you!!! You don't need that resolution in a 10in tablet!!!!

personxx

What a crock of bull. I own a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and it is one of the BEST tablets I have ever owned. This whole review is ridiculous and the author have lost any shred of credibility in my books.

Really I can't fathom how the author can write reviews for Android Police.

guru

This is the most unserious review I have ever read. You need to learn how to be objective and don't judge things only from your point of view. People are different and have different needs and tastes. This particular tablet is far more great than how you presented it. It is fast, looks good, feels good in the hand, the battery is good, and most of all it gives you opportunity both for entertainment and work - something that most tablets on market don't offer.
And if you don't like Samsung just don't buy their stuff. It is not a reason to write mean reviews without any sense.

Robert

"never really running 2 apps at once"? I have a Note and I just opened a video, gMail, and Snote and I can run them all at one time. All are cascaded on the screen at one time. I do have to agree that I cannot operate all at the same time but can use fingers in two at once. And it is not trickery. Its how the application is written. We will soon see all android apps written this way.

My buddy with his iPad choose the high resolution picture to compare. He concluded my Note looked better even though it is a lower resolution screen. Sorry - real story. He was real jealous when I fire off my media room with the IR. Pretty cool stuff.

This guy is an idiot.

Andrew

who the fuck need NFC? worst review ever

Swedneck

This isn't a review. A review is focused on describing what IS, not on showing "how pissed I got when I saw that it was NOT". The whole article just screams "I wanted this but that wasn't there and therefore everything else is just crap." A review is also to help the reader to learn so HE easier can see if it is what HE wants. Only his "Please don't buy this" takes away all that.

The really fun thing are things like "I want to float or split screen apps like Gmail, Google Talk, YouTube and Chrome."... and "windows aren't resizable". Well, now with the Jelly Bean update you CAN float or split your "favourite four" (and more)... and in resizable windows. I bet he's sitting with his Samsung right now...

Now I have to read his Galaxy S III review. Not that I'm interested in what he has to say, just want to see if he is stupid in general or just pissed about his rectal cancer that he blames the Note for.

jetfire

BAD REVIEWER. PLEASE tell me what other tablet can I choose from?
1.I need a tablet that can receive/make call.
2.I need a tablet which is big enough for me to read a whole document easily without panning around.
3.I need a splitscreen & floating calculator that i can read,copy,reply mail, edit photo before sending, updating document & send to my office with a floating calculator to make some 7digits calculation while walking around without a table & extra hand.
4.I need a practically powerful processor & ram to perform my duty without too much waiting or swapping screen.
5.I need a camera with autofocus & flash that is good enough to scan a cheque, a transaction slip to be whatapps to my client & office anywhere,anytime.
6.I need a tab that can connect to my DSLR & transfer it to my tab instantly & copy in offline mode to another thumb drive for my client or co worker.
7.powerful battery that can last my whole day working around from 8am to 12am midnight with all the heavy usage of 3G, WIFI, internet browsing, document reading & emailing, photo upload & transfer & sending thru 3G connection.
8.managing my phonebook, messaging, mailing, instant messaging thru VIBER, WHATAPPS, IM+, FACEBOOK & etc without the need of carrying another smartphone with different contact number which is troublesome to me & my client.
9. a good digital pen that can sketch better than my finger.

CAN you tell me what else can i choose from beside this "CRAPPY TABLET" that you ask me not to use it? YOU TELL ME, I BUY IT. NAME IT! GIVE ME A SOLUTION!

IF IPAD or any other device can do it, i won't need to spend more for your so called "CRAPPY SQUEAKY TABLET" & to be honest, this tablet still a little heavy at this size. The trade off is too great to have it with me than complaining about the plastic.

MY RATE, ***** for it at this moment until i find another better device as an upgrade that really helps.

i know some people would say bad things about samsung product, but this is the worst review i have read. i dont think you should make any reviews. shame on you!

dee

Your review sucks I have never had any problems with my
tablet and everyone that uses it loves it. But yes S Beam not on the tablet does suck too.

Schrodie

Did you actually get paid to write that tripe. Go back to the Apple Store from whence you came.

Ratz

Well written, well documented, well said. My tablet was
purchased in August 2013. I am surprised that there are so many useless un-installable
apps (unless I root the system) installed by Samsung. Although I am able to
work with it, I would have preferred to purchase Dell notebook with win 7 from
Dell business. This is just a fad not intended for serious work.

Paul Oslo

Haha this review makes me laugh about how unprofessional this idiotic review is.....I have had this device for more than a month and im loving this tablet more each day. If you are an apple fanatic dont bother reviewing cause you dont have wath it takes.....youre a biased idiotic person.

Stuart King

This review is fake, I've compared his assertions to a Note I received free and none stand up to scrutiny. Likely it was written by Apple Corporate.

Mary Mcintyre

So stupid! are u even serious

dragracergirl

I have had this exact tablet for a couple of years now and I love it ... this guy is an idiot and I wonder how much $ he was paid to write all the garbage he did!

larkwoodgirl

This article seems almost fabricated, because so much of it screams that the reviewer has never really used a Galaxy Note 10 tablet. The information in many places is just completely wrong. For example, the comments about S Note clearing the document when you save it. NOT TRUE. You can reopen the document with the app and even save documents to different folders.

Donut212

I just happened to stumble on this article today after searching for some info for my 10.1 and I have to say that this guy is a moron. Most of the things that he has pointed out about the structure of the tablet is just flat out wrong. The photo of the 10.1 in which he said he lightly used for 2 days is pure BS. Lightly used items don't have insane scratches or scuffs after only 2 days of usage. When he compared it to the other tablet which he said he ABUSED for a year I laughed hard and decided to stop reading. This fool has lost all credibility with me and with others I am sure.

Jay Dee

I wish I saw this post BEFORE I purchased this toy.

I INTENDED to use it INSTEAD OF a laptop for business presentations and/or video via a projector - HA - boy oh boy was I mistaken.
I need to get from the Micro USB on the SM P600 to a VGA connection for use with a projector. Many companies only have projectors with a VGA or S-video connector - not HDMI.
I've logged many hours at a Samsung dealer store, plus direct phone calls with Samsung, as well as numerous (saved) chats online to get it working AS EXPECTED AND REQUIRED.
NO SOLUTION OR ANSWERS from Samsung, only that the hardware does not support VGA.
At this point I'm not even sure the MHL is viable (used meetMHL.com to test) and response was "your samsung galaxy note 10.1 does not currently have MHL technology".
I have tried using several adapters - Micro USB to USB, Micro USB to VGA, Micro USB to HDMI (5 pin and 11 pin), HDMI (5 pin) to VGA, HDMI converter (5 pin to 11 pin).
So... if anyone has a solution kindly post it - thanks.

H. Cid

Fortunately I am an happy daily user of one that was bought 9 months ago.
Maybe Samsung changed the plastics because mine doesn't flex nor wears like that.
It isn't a PC but multitasking transisions aren't so bad.
I had to make some mods: higher class sd memory expansion card (class 10) or device will be get slow reading and writing on it and a Matt foil protective cover for the display. Not because this hard glass needs extra protection but because it is so shiny that I get headaches just looking my face and surroundings reflected all time.
Samsung could make much better with a little more effort on details. But, for my sense, this is the best value for the money in the world of tablets.

I think you need this. Plus, I think that your review is terrible. This is a tool for work or school, it is not a nexus or ipad. I love mine, it has increased my productivity. S note, although limited in some respects, kicks ass.

Anavil Patel

For your information the note does have NFC and S-Beam. And Bluetooth. This review sucked

Anavil Patel

The tablet has a 2560x1600 display dumbass

Cking

Best tablet I've had yet. I've got 2 old Ipads ; Ipad 1 and Ipad 2 . I did have Some issues with why YouTube was so slow; my computer was fast but not this tablet. I figured out it wasn't my tablet, but my router . I had to change the channels on the router to 9- 11 . Problem solved. Ok design isn't perfect , but in most cases people usually or should put a protective cover for their tablet or phone . then the design of the tablet doesn't matter as much, the Case does . Touch wiz is just fine especially after the new update to 4.1 . And dude , I'm multitasking

Peter WRig

I am a very proud owner of my 10.1 and as a university lecturer for communications electronics, I evaluate this product with exelent! Samsung have understood one thing, pet as many sensors as possible into something and people will write aps to use em! Nfc yes a pitty this was a management mistake

Guest

"The hardware is pure, unadulterated garbage. The build quality is so bad, I think it gave me cancer. Samsung display technology gave us last year and saved his best screen for Apple tablet."

I bought!

And I love it. I live in Brazil do not know if influences but at least mine is great. Now if you bought and did not like the problem and its not come critirar the whole company because they do not have such a device especially for you.

ultiliso my tablet at school and service and even almost replaces my laptop for him. By then FRYPANS gentleness posts nanhum not make sense as this.

note girl

Usually I don't comment and most likely I am not as big as a tech as others but I loved it. Went to a training and had about 8 classes if material was printed I would have close to 200 pages. So why would I download my material and still take a note book.
Split screen notes on one side training material was on the other able to review my notes and expand on them print them out and added them to the hard copy back at office. Not downing any manufacture but Apple is a name have had 2 iPhone 4 and 5 been introduced to the iPad colleagues that were bringing the iPad had to download additional apps to get their material. Galaxy note 10.1 perfect size if I wanted any smaller I would just use my phone if I wanted bigger would have brought my laptop. As for as the back I wasn't using it as a Frisbee.

dragonattack

Yawn !!!

medano

I only joined this site to comment on this review. I was in an industrial accident and tried many products to help me adjust to my new life. Microsoft missed the mark with windows 8, apples self imposed limitations on software development and the way they handle warranty issues put them at the bottom of my list. After trying many tablets I chose the gn10.1 and have found it to be a great experience over the last 8 months. It has not been glitchy or slow to open anything. I'm not going to take it out of the protective cover to check the back as I can say I would have never thought to try to push on it in such a manner and dont understand how that qualified as its own video? Mine has never "squeaked". Android in general is still in the baby stages of what it will be. It is not a pc, but I have found it to be an effective tool that serves me well. I didn't need a toy, I needed something that would work consistently and be dependable as my constant companion. I wanted it to work for entertainment too. I found this foots the bill. I survived the palm series devices, blackberry, htc devices, nexus devices and even a windows phone once to graduate to this device. Comparing it to a 7" tablet that is designed differently applies how? I have not had the experience you tried to describe? What I did read was very unprofessional , were you trying to be funny? This was acceptable to the editor so it tells me all I need to know about this website and will not be supporting it.